Trampas: Hollywood changed a bad guy to a good guy

Hollywood has long been guilty of painting criminals with a gilded hue. No doubt the real-life Robin Hood, for example, was much more concerned with robbing the rich than he was giving to the poor. But those were actual historical figures, and the practice has been commonplace in cinematic history.

But at least once Hollywood reformed a fictitious character as well. If you have ever read the novel The Virginian by Owen Wister, you know that the character Trampas was the worst sort of bad guy, who eventually was shot by the hero. When the long-running TV series came along, Trampas was there, but he had been changed to a lovable ranch hand who, though he had his weaknesses, was obviously one of the good guys. Actor Doug McClure played the character and made it his own.